AUT-2B-HOME IN CAROLINA ~ Teaching our twenty-five-year-old daughter with autism and aphasia, who is still learning about God, the world, and its people with a little help from Charlotte Mason

Friday, August 22, 2008

Pickles and Olives and Broth, Oh My!

What does this seemingly unrelated odd collection of objects have in common? You'll see. . .

Our RDI consultant wanted to get to know Pamela better, so they spent two and a half hours together, out and about town. They had lots of fun and laughs. Our consultant thinks Pamela is hilarious, sweet, and gentle. How wonderful that a professional likes Pamela and enjoys her company!

First, they drove to a lake. Pamela became the iPod navigator in the car and found nothing she recognized. She turned it off because it seems our taste in music is different from that of our consultant. Pamela did not want to go walking, so she told our consultant that it's "not a very good idea," "a bad idea," and "too danger." They sat in the car and negotiated for a bit.

The suggestion of the Dollar Tree triggered another "not a great idea" semi-automatic response until Pamela realized it was a store, not a tree. Pamela picked out a really cool bright pink and blue sensory bracelet for herself. She could not find a gift for David. LOL.

They headed to Wally World, and our consultant told Pamela she would be happy to buy her a toy. Pamela suggested DVD but that was out for many reasons. They checked out the DVD’s and moved onto the toys. One surprising toy that caught her eye was a cupcake baker, probably because all of the baking we do. Pamela then insisted it was time for me to get food and helped pick up item's our consultant's grocery list. To my surprise, Pamela became a food Nazi and would not let her buy Lucky Charms, even though we buy gluten, casein, and junk-laced cereal at home! She explained that Lucky Charms would make you sick. One thing was clear to the consultant: Pamela's got referencing skills nailed!

Pamela finally picked out her momentos from our consultant in her favorite grocery aisle.

Was it candy? NOPE!

Was it soy ice cream? NOPE, not even chocolate soy ice cream.

What about potato chips or tortilla chips? NOPE!

She went down the condiment aisle! She probably picked the oddest things of all the kids our consultant has seen . . .

pickles

green olives

beef broth (she even pointed out the "gluten-free" description on the label to convince her it was okay).

After Wal-Mart, they had lunch. Our consultant already knew about the gf/cf thing and ordered the burger without then bun. I told her about the drink with no ice, but I forgot to mention the extra small fries. So, when Pamela saw only two fries, she kept saying, "There's a mistake." Our consultant could not figure out what, so Pamela did what we always do. I usually take a couple of fries and give her mine to avoid starting Chernobyl. Since our consultant did not know about my sacrificial tendencies, Pamela kept "stealing" her fries and our consultant would laugh and say, "You're a French Fry thief!" Pamela thought that was hilarious. That weird-looking, big-headed Star Wars bobble-head was the toy from her kid's meal. I guess Pamela got a toy after all!

When our consultant told Pamela they were going back, Pamela said, "We are at the end of our tape." When our consultant said, "Our date," she insisted, "No! Our cassette tape . . . Comedy!" and cracked up at her joke. Her great smile made it clear that Pamela was deliberately telling a joke.

There are two things I appreciated from this visit:

(1) Our consultant sees my description of Pamela as accurate sketches of her character: "Pamela is really easy to be around, and a very funny girl. We had some honest moments of connection that were invaluable to me. . . I think your descriptions are right on, and I really like your kid."

(2) Our consultant sees that Pamela is ready to move onto more gestures because she has the whole listening posture down! I am doing another language assessment on how she expresses not wanting to do something to see if we can expand her phrases and body gestures for this.

In fact, here is an excerpt of our last submission to the consultant and I have to "catch" Pamela at not listening. In 34 minutes of film, she has only three lapses in listening posture! At the end, I tacked on a blip of Pamela and her budding interest in comedy.

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